Night two was bad.
The two fast infected hit the south fence first, not the east.
Nobody expected south. South had been quiet.
Luo Yan heard the screams from the container and his body locked up for a second before he forced himself to move.
By the time they reached south, it was already ugly.
One fast infected had torn through a gap in the wire and was inside. It moved along the ground like a wet spider, low and quick, snapping at ankles.
The second one clung to the outside of the fence, shaking it, testing spots.
Soldiers fired wild. Civilians ran in every direction.
A woman fell and didn't get up.
Lan Huan didn't shout orders this time. He just moved.
Lightning snapped from his hand and hit the fence where the second infected clung. The current jumped through the wet metal. The infected shrieked and fell back into the dark.
Inside the fence, the first one was still moving.
It had grabbed a man's leg and was dragging him.
He Li bent light fast, making the infected misjudge a lunge. It snapped at air and stumbled.
He Chenyu grabbed a metal bar from a pile and swung hard.
It connected.
The infected rolled, then got up again.
Qin Yi, pale and shaking, threw a small illusion. A sharp whistle to the left. The infected's head snapped toward it.
Lan Huan drove the lightning rod into its back.
It went down. Twitching.
A soldier finished it with two shots to the head.
Quiet.
Then more screaming from the crowd.
The man who'd been dragged was bleeding from the calf. Deep scratches. Maybe a bite underneath.
Luo Yan looked at the body.
A core sat inside the cracked skull. Small. Grey with a faint red thread.
He picked it up fast and pocketed it before anyone else looked.
Lan Huan saw. He didn't say anything.
The second fast infected didn't come back that night.
But nobody slept.
Dawn came slow.
The smell of blood sat in the lanes like fog.
Luo Yan made congee again. His hands moved on their own. Wash rice. Boil water. Salt. Stir. Pour.
People lined up without being told.
He didn't know when feeding became his job.
But it was.
Lan Huan sat nearby, eating from a cup, watching the lane.
"We need more people," Lan Huan said quietly.
Luo Yan swallowed his rice. "Who?"
Lan Huan's eyes stayed on the crowd. "Someone who can build," he said. "The fence won't hold with wire and hope."
He Li added, "And someone who can heal. Or at least slow infection."
Luo Yan's mind went to Mu Yan. Water and wood. Vines. Detox.
But he couldn't say that. Not yet. He didn't know these people existed yet, not in this world.
His system chimed, private.
Ding.
DAY 3 MISSION: FIND A BUILDER
Time Limit: 48:00:00
Objective: Recruit 1 awakened with construction-viable abilities
Reward: Core Sense (short range)
Reward: Storage Capacity +5%
Luo Yan swallowed.
A builder.
Lu Ziming. Wind and earth.
But he'd have to find him naturally, without looking like he already knew who to look for.
Luo Yan looked at Lan Huan. "The fence teams," he said carefully. "Are there awakened helping?"
Lan Huan nodded. "A few," he said. "Zhao put them on rotation."
Luo Yan kept his voice casual. "Anyone with earth power?"
Lan Huan's gaze flicked to him. Sharp. "Why?"
Luo Yan's throat went dry. "Earth can patch walls," he said. "Better than scrap."
Lan Huan stared for a beat. Then he nodded. "He Li," he said.
He Li looked up.
"Find me an earth user," Lan Huan said.
He Li finished his congee and stood. "Yes, sir."
The rest of Day 3 passed in pieces.
Luo Yan cleaned the pot. He sorted the remaining rice. He stored two cups of congee in his system storage without anyone seeing, just to test if preservation worked on cooked food.
It did.
The congee came out still warm.
He almost smiled.
He Chenyu noticed Luo Yan's mood shift and raised an eyebrow. "You look less dead," he said.
Luo Yan shrugged. "I ate."
He Chenyu grunted. "Fair."
In the afternoon, He Li came back.
He had someone with him.
A young man, maybe 22, with mud on his boots and a grin that didn't match the apocalypse.
He looked like the kind of person who laughed when scared and talked when nervous.
He was talking now.
"—so the soldier yells at me, 'faster!' and I'm like, brother, if I go faster the wall crumbles, that's how earth works, you can't rush dirt—"
He Li's face was completely flat. "This is him," he said to Lan Huan.
Lan Huan looked at the young man. "Name," he said.
The young man straightened up a little, grin fading into something more careful. "Lu Ziming," he said.
Lan Huan's eyes narrowed. "Element."
Lu Ziming hesitated. "Wind," he said. Then added, quieter, "And earth."
He Li's eyebrow lifted slightly.
Lan Huan's voice stayed flat. "Dual."
Lu Ziming's grin came back, smaller. "Yeah," he said. "Lucky me."
Qin Yi looked up from his spot on the tarp. His eyes moved over Lu Ziming once. Twice. Then he looked away, pressing his temple.
Lu Ziming's gaze caught on Qin Yi for a second. His grin softened into something less loud.
"Your friend okay?" Lu Ziming asked He Li.
He Li's voice was flat. "He gets migraines."
Lu Ziming winced. "Rough."
Lan Huan cut in. "You built barriers at south fence," he said.
Lu Ziming nodded. "Tried," he said. "They keep yelling at me to go faster."
Lan Huan's voice was calm. "How fast can you go?"
Lu Ziming's mouth twisted. "Slow," he admitted. "But it holds."
Lan Huan nodded once. "Good."
Lu Ziming blinked. "Good?"
Lan Huan said, "I don't need fast. I need strong."
Lu Ziming stared at him, then let out a breath. "Okay," he said. "That's new."
Lan Huan looked at Luo Yan. "Feed him," he said.
Luo Yan pulled the stored congee out when no one was watching and handed a cup to Lu Ziming.
Lu Ziming took one sip and his eyes went wide. "This is warm," he said. "How—"
"Don't ask," He Chenyu said.
Lu Ziming looked at He Chenyu, then at Luo Yan, then back at the cup.
He drank the rest in three gulps.
"I'm staying," Lu Ziming said.
Qin Yi muttered from the tarp, "We didn't ask."
Lu Ziming grinned at him. "You look like you need a nap."
Qin Yi's eyes opened. He stared at Lu Ziming for a second.
Then he said, dry, "I need a new life."
Lu Ziming laughed. It was too loud for the apocalypse, but nobody told him to stop.